KENNY DALGLISH knows all about the pressure that comes with being in charge of the Premier League’s big spenders.

Two decades ago, just eight months after parting company with Liverpool, Dalglish took up the challenge of turning Jack Walker’s dream into reality at Blackburn Rovers.

With the club bankrolled by the steel tycoon’s cash, Dalglish masterminded Rovers’ promotion into the Premier League and made them a force to be reckoned with.

Alan Shearer was snapped up from Southampton for a British record fee of £3.3million and that mark was broken again to land Chris Sutton for £5million from Norwich.

After finishing fourth and then second, Blackburn took the final step in 1994/95 as they won the championship on an unforgettable afternoon at Anfield.

Blackburn gatecrashed the established elite to clinch the ultimate prize and tonight Liverpool take on a Manchester City side looking to travel the same path.

The ambition maybe similar but the sums involved are vastly different.

Sheikh Mansour has already ploughed an eye-watering £1billion into City since he bought the club in September 2008.

That’s only small change for a man with a personal fortune estimated at £20billion and with access to a family fund believed to total around £550billion. In comparison, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is a pauper.

However, nearly three years after buying the club from former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the half-brother of the ruler of Abu Dhabi is still waiting for a return on his investment.

Manager Roberto Mancini is tasked with making that happen.

The FA Cup is his only remaining hope this season of ending City’s wait for major silverware which dates back to 1976.

With them fourth in the Premier League, Champions League qualification is still a long way from being secured.

If Mancini triumphs at Eastlands, many will write off his achievements as simply ‘buying success’. They were the same jibes thrown at Dalglish 20 years ago.

But the Liverpool boss insists the Italian deserves respect for the progress City have made and says it takes more than a blank chequebook to turn a club into champions.

“I’m certainly not disrespectful of anything Roberto Mancini has done since he’s been at City or before he went there,” Dalglish said.

“It’s not his fault that Man City have wealthy owners and are prepared to spend money.

“There’s not anyone who has won a trophy anywhere who has never had money to spend.

“He might have a wee bit more than most people but with that comes added pressure.

“I don’t see how anyone could be disrespectful to what Roberto has achieved in football.

“There are no guarantees it’s going to lead to success just because he has money at his disposal. Like all managers he will be judged on results.”

The huge sums of money City are shelling out aren’t disputed, but Dalglish insists stories about Blackburn’s financial clout over their rivals back in the early 90s were a world away from reality. However, the constant digs in their direction only served to spur them on.

“It was used as an asset for us,” he said.

“At the end of the day we didn’t actually have that much money.

“People believed the players were getting fortunes but one guy left to join another club and got four times the wages he got at Blackburn.

“We laughed at it, it was ignorance. People didn’t know what the financial situation was.

“Yeah, we signed Alan Shearer but he signed because he wanted to play for us as well as the money that was paid. He was well paid but it was never extortionate. No-one got extortionate money. It was a nice play for the media to say we had money. It was Jack’s money. If you look at the money spent and what came back in, Blackburn did quite well out of it.”

Dalglish’s Blackburn and Mancini’s City do have one thing in common and that’s triggering envious glances from their rivals.

“The only thing that’s consistent with both clubs is that everyone else is jealous,” Dalglish added. “With the perceived money Blackburn had back then and people are jealous now of the money City obviously do have.

“That’s the only parallel. Man City will get where they want to go in their own right, in their own time and in their own way.”